Andria
“Well well well.”
Andria almost groaned out loud, only stopping herself because she knew it wouldn’t help an already-fragile situation.
“Have you been waiting for me this entire time?” she snapped as Jake and his two frat buddies Danny and Mikey sauntered out from the darkness, standing between her and her car.
“It seems you haven’t quite gotten the message yet,” Jake sneered, scratching at one of his scruffy cheeks. “So we’re here to ensure you show us you do.”
“What message?”
“That your bodyguard can’t protect you forever.”
Andria blinked. “My what?”
“Big, strong, and dumb. Don’t act like you’re stupid. We know better than that. I know why you hired him. But it won’t change anything. You aren’t going to be there, Andria.”
“Fuck you,” she spat. “I’ll do what I want. I’m not scared of you.”
Truthfully she wasn’t sure she had the courage to go anyway, but admitting defeat to herself and admitting it this asshole were two different things.
“You should be.” Jake took a step closer.
“What happened to you?” she asked, taking a different approach. “You never used to be like this, Jake. Always a little too cocky for your own good, sure. But you were never an outright asshole. Neither was your brother. What changed?”
He sneered again, reaching into a coat pocket. Andria instinctively took a step back, but all he pulled out was a little clear baggy.
“What changed?” he asked. “This is what changed. These are going to make us rich, if you don’t screw it all up.” He dangled the contents in front of her.
There were four or five little purple pills in it.
“Drugs. You’re dealing drugs now, Jake? What the hell got into you? That’s not you.”
“You don’t fucking know me. You never knew me.”
“Maybe.” She looked him up and down. The rumpled clothing, the thinner figure, devoid of some of the muscle mass she’d known him to have since puberty. He didn’t look like the Jake she thought she knew from high school. Not anymore at least.
Jake didn’t take her response very well. “You judgmental bitch!” He reached into the bag while she watched and downed one of the pills. “Now you’re going to be sorry.”
At a cue from Jake that she missed, Danny picked up a chunk of concrete and whipped it at the light above them. The glass shattered and the parking lot plunged into darkness.
Andria cried out, backing away from them even as she blinked rapidly, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness so she could see. Loud footsteps hit the pavement and then someone’s hand landed on her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Cowl growled, moving so that he was in front of her. “You’re safe now.”
Jake laughed. “Safe? Is that what you think she is with you, pretty boy?”
“I’m a lot more than good-looking, trust me on that. Now, twice I’ve told you to leave Andria alone. Twice you haven’t listened to me. You continue to trouble her, and I’m starting to get mad. I wouldn’t advise you make me mad.”
Her eyes finally adjusted, letting her see the standoff going on in the empty lot.
“Oooooooh.” Jake shook his hands in front of his face, pretending to be scared. “What are you going to do, turn green and smash some stuff?”
“Not green, no. But you wouldn’t like it.” Cowl flexed one thick arm, his knuckles cracking loudly in the silence. “Now get out of here before I kill you all.” He took one step forward.
Andria grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back. “Come on, Cowl. There are three of them, and only one of you.”
“I know. So they should come with a few more friends next time. Then it might be an even fight.”
She admired his bravado and confidence, but she knew what Jake’s family was capable of. If Cowl touched his son, then his father would have to get involved, and that would be the last she ever saw or heard of Cowl, she was positive on that. Especially if they were now openly dealing drugs.
“Come on.” She tugged on his arm, trying vainly to move his iron-like muscles. “It’s not worth it.”
Jake leered. “You heard your master. Go on. Get.”
Cowl bared his teeth, standing his ground. Andria looked back and forth frantically. Jake wasn’t helping issues here, dammit. Even if he did have the numbers, she suspected the fight would be far less one-sided than he might suspect. Cowl was insanely strong, and she’d seen him move with a quickness and litheness to his movements that belied his size. Jake was picking a fight with the wrong guy, in her opinion.
But she still wasn’t going to let it happen.
She needed a way to distract Cowl. To get him to walk around Jake and escort her to her car. Andria abruptly had an idea.
Taking Cowl’s hand, she locked her fingers through his and squeezed. “Can you walk me to my car?” she asked, looking up at him.
It was a gamble. A big one. And not something she wanted to do. It could send all sorts of wrong signals.
But it worked.
Cowl looked down at her hand, then at her, drawn away from his standoff by her touch.
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “Yeah, I can do that.”
They walked around Jake’s laughing gang, Cowl careful to put himself closest to Jake, who followed them around making kissy noises and uttering taunts, all of which were directed at Cowl. But the big man bore up against it admirably, rarely engaging at all.
Eventually Jake got tired of it, and with one last pointed glare in her direction, they left.
“I’m going to kill them if I see them again,” he snarled the instant they were out of earshot.
“I know.” She let go of his hand, trying to ignore the feeling of reluctance that came along with it, and placed that same hand on his chest. “There’s something wrong with Jake. He’s not stable anymore. Promise me you won’t start anything, Cowl. Please.”
He frowned, clearly unhappy. “Why would you make me promise that?”
Because she was trying to save his life. Even if Cowl did kill Jake, that would only bring more trouble his way. And hers.
“Richard Malkin is not a man to mess with. Jake isn’t the same as his father, but trust me, if he gets involved, Cowl, it will be bad. Really bad. So please, promise me.”
“Will you tell me then what’s going on?”
Andria shook her head. “No.” Propping herself up on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. Again. I promise I’m going to try to stop getting into these situations.”
“You’re leaving?”
She unlocked her car. “Yes.”
“Just like that? Without any sort of explanation at all.”
“I have an early class?” She gave him a wave and got into her car, firing it up and pulling out as fast as she could.
Only when she was around the block and out of sight of Cowl did she pull over to the curb, her entire body shaking. Everything had come so close to exploding in her face just then.
“Breathe.” She had to speak the word aloud, else it was unlikely her body would have responded to it. It was traumatized by what had almost happened.
What the hell was going on with Jake? The date had been set for nearly two months now, but only the past week had he decided to start threatening her so that she didn’t show. Something had changed, but she didn’t know what. Was it the drugs? Had he started taking the same stuff he was dealing?
If it weren’t for Cowl being around, Andria feared that she might have already become another one of the “missing persons” mysteries that surrounded the Malkin family.
But he only worked for her. What was she supposed to do the rest of the time?